BUDAPEST, Hungary — Charles Leclerc took a shock pole position for Ferrari at the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead McLaren’s championship rivals Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in second and third.

Leclerc hooked up a 1:15.372 to beat championship leader Piastri to the fastest third and final qualifying session time by 0.026 seconds, with Norris a further 0.015 seconds adrift in third.

Norris set the fastest time of all in Q2 — a 1:14.980 — but could not replicate it in Q3 when the sky clouded over, the wind picked up and the track temperature dropped.

Leclerc’s pole position marks Ferrari’s first of the year for a grand prix — Lewis Hamilton secured sprint race pole in China — after the team introduced upgraded suspension to its car at the Belgian Grand Prix one week ago.

“Today I don’t understand anything in Formula 1,” Leclerc said afterward. “Honestly, the whole qualifying has been extremely difficult. When I say extremely difficult, it’s not exaggerating. It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was difficult for us to get to Q3.

“I knew I just had to do a clean lap to target third, and at the end of the day it’s pole position. I definitely did not expect that.

“Honestly, I have no words. It’s probably one of the best pole positions I’ve ever had. It’s the most unexpected, for sure,” he added.

The McLaren teammates, who are increasingly in a battle of their own for the championship, looked comfortably fastest throughout practice and remain the favorites to take the fight to Leclerc and challenge for victory in Sunday’s race.

The two drivers blamed the wind changes from Q2 to Q3, with Piastri saying: “I think the wind changed a lot. It always sounds so pathetic blaming things on the wind. It did a 180 from Q2 to Q3 and meant a lot of the corners felt completely different.

“It was difficult to judge in those conditions and maybe not the best execution. I was surprised we couldn’t go quicker than that.

“Second is still a decent spot to start, so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

While Norris said: “I think Charles did a good job on the last lap … he probably risked a little bit more in these conditions. The wind changed a lot and it really seemed to punish us in a bigger way it seems.”

George Russell secured fourth place for Mercedes ahead of a strong result for Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, which matched his season-best qualifying performance at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll will start sixth on the grid ahead of another impressive qualifying performance by Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto in seventh.

Reigning champion Max Verstappen had to settle for eighth on the grid after struggling with the balance of his Red Bull throughout practice.

Racing Bulls teammates Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar rounded out the top ten in ninth and tenth.

Haas driver Oliver Bearman will start 11th on the grid after missing out on a place in Q3 by 0.007 seconds. In an incredibly close battle for the final place in Q3, Hamilton also fell just short and will start the race 12th on the grid with a time just 0.008 seconds slower than Bearman.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli also featured in the fight for the last place in Q3 but his fastest lap time, which looked set to secure him 11th on the grid, was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 14, leaving him 15th overall.

Carlos Sainz will start 13th for Williams ahead of Franco Colapinto, who outqualified Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly for the second time since joining the French team at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

Yuki Tsunoda missed out on a place in Q2 by 0.021 seconds, resulting in his fourth Q1 knockout since joining Red Bull. His margin to Verstappen in Q1 was only 0.163 seconds, one of the closer gaps between the two drivers as teammates, but it still left him 16th on the grid for Sunday’s race.

Pierre Gasly will start 17th for Alpine ahead of the Haas of Esteban Ocon, the Sauber of Nico Hülkenberg and Alex Albon’s Williams in last place.